Acceptance
by madamwolf
Summary: AU. xover with XMen. Tony begins showing signs of supernatural abilities. Will the team find out? How will they react? Slight TATE.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Before I do anything this is an AU, it has no specific time period Kate is alive and Ziva was gonna be here but once I started writin I completely forgot to add her in so I took her back out. Hope no ones to crushed. Um disclaimer I don't own anything, nadda, zip, zilch, big goose egg!

Okay this is also kind of a crossover, with what? I have no idea I got the idea while reading Uncanny X-Men issue 397 so it's probably X-Men. But basically is this twisted world my mind made up mutants exist and there are not looked on as the best people. You know prejudice and such. Ya'll get what I'm saying? But I'll stop babbling and you guys can go on with the read.Oh more more thing the "mutant population" is smaller then it is in X-Men, it's more rare to get powers but whatever enjoy and be warned this is a freaky ass story! Or at least I think it will be.

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Tony moaned and rolled over in his bed and slammed his hand down on the alarm clock to stop the unholy noise coming from it. He rolled back on his back and stared at the ceiling for a moment blinking his eyes to clear his blurry vision. Rubbing his eyes he looked down and noticed he had kicked off all his blankets and he was lying in the bed in nothing but his boxers. He cursed under his breath, this had been going on for several nights now and it wasn't even all that hot, he had his air conditioning on. He sat up in his bed and swung his legs over the edge, getting up. Running a hand nervously through his hair he looked back at the kicked off blankets. "Oh God…" He murmured, it was happening again.

This was not the first time Tony had exhibited "inhumanity" his father had called it. When he was fourteen he bought home a somewhat bad report card form school… It was a night he would never forget.

_Flashback_

A young Anthony DiNozzo walked up the steps to his large home, fingering an envelope in his hands. It was his report card, he really didn't want to show it to his father, he would completely freak out on him he knew it. Quickly before opening the door Tony slipped it in his backpack, it would be best for the both of them if he didn't know. Tony had, once again, brought home a 'C' in math, it never was his best subject, and this C was from rigorous studying.

He quietly opened the door and walked in looking around for his father, thankfully he didn't see him. Sighing out loud he walked into the kitchen and threw this bag on the table and stuck his head in the refrigerator not bothering to turn on the lights in the dark room. But unfortunately he didn't notice the figure sitting at the table where he just threw his bag.

"Anthony!" It said and Tony stiffened, he stood up straight and slowly turned around to face his father sitting in a chair at the table. "Turn on the lights." He demanded.

"Yes, Sir." Tony said and slowly walked over to the wall and flicked them on to meet a very angry man sitting in front of him.

"Your math teacher called today, it's a good thing I didn't leave on that business trip isn't it?" He asked his son, Tony did not respond but kept his head down. "She said you're getting a C now I will _not _tolerate my only son flunking school!" He yelled making Tony roll his eyes mentally, a C was hardly flunking. "Give me the report card I want to see this atrocity for myself." He ordered.

Tony walked over to his bag and took out the envelope and his father snatched it out of his hands roughly. He ripped it open and stared at the report card for a minute, but for Tony that minute seemed to last forever. He threw it down and stood up towering over his son. "This is the second time you had failed me! You will not do it again!" He grabbed Tony's arm but quickly let go after a second and held his hand which was red and looked like it had a minor burn. He looked up to Tony who was shaking and looking at his fathers hand horrified. "Oh no… Anthony, no…" he said. "Not you… you're my only God damn son! You can't be one of those freaks! There not human!"

Tony winced at what his father said and looked down at his hands they looked normal but he knew they were hot, and only getting hotter. He ran up the stairs and into his room, he locked the door and went into his bathroom. Before he did anything he glanced at the door there were brown burn marks on ithe shut his eyes and looked away. He turned on the cold water in his shower and didn't even bother to take his clothes off before stepping in and the hissing sound of something hot cooling under cold water was heard as smoke came up from him.

He sat in the shower with ice cold running over him for over an hour crying. When he finally saw his father again almost three days later they never spoke of it, but his father did however seem even colder to Tony and more hatred toward the "mutants" in the world. After this whenever Tony felt it coming (usually when he was stressed or angry) he would just run cold water over him, it usually stopped it.

_End Flashback_

He thought it had stopped, but he must have been wrong. He hadn't felt like this for almost three years. "Shit." Tony said to himself as he stepped out of the shower, it had been ice cold, nothing he felt the same. It hadn't made it go away this time. Looking in the mirror Tony studied his reflection. "Well at least I don't look different, maybe no one'll notice." He mumbled and then timidly touched the wood on his wall and when he took it off nothing was left behind. It must be passing. But that still didn't mean he was off the hook he could still feel the heat inside him.

He put on a casual suit and tested his hands on the door frame one more time before deciding nothing was happening. No one would notice at work... he hoped.

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AN: I hope it wasn't to bad, I know it was short and all next chapter will be longer. But be kind in the reviews. And if anyone actually reads this I'll update soon if I get reviews.


	2. Chapter 2

As Tony drove to work he glanced up at the thermometer in his car. It was a hot day, by rights a "normal" person should be sweating, but he was fine and he hated it. He parked his car in the parking lot and opened the door and stepped out, to preoccupied with the mornings events he never looked at his watch to find out if he was late or not. And sure enough, he was already ten minutes late for work. He cursed under his breath and began to jog up to the offices. He sighed when he stepped in the elevator and waited impatiently for it to take him to his floor.

Walking out he looked around for Gibbs, he wasn't there maybe he didn't notice he was late. Of course he knew he was Gibbs nothing got past him. Tony walked in and quickly went over to his desk and sat down without saying a word. Kate looked up and smirked.

"Have a girl in bed and wake up late?" She asked raising her eyebrows.

Tony forced a smile and looked up at her placing his arms on his desk. "You bet, tall, blonde, very good too."

She scoffed and looked disgusted. "You're a pig Tony."

Tony heard McGee laugh a little.

No just a freak, he thought but kept his smile up anyway. "You joke because you love me."

"Shut up." She said and put her head back down to her work. "But Gibbs is mad at you. He went storming through here about ten or fifteen minutes ago looking pissed. He didn't have his coffee yet."

"Oh lovely." Tony said and sighed looking at the work piled up on his desk. They heard someone coming down the steps at a fast pace and Tony immediately knew it was Gibbs. He looked up just in time to see Gibbs walk by his desk and give him a slap upside his head. "Ow." He said closing one eye and making a face.

"You're late."

"Sorry, Boss."

"Don't do it again." He said sternly.

"I won't, Boss."

McGee looked up from his work and looked at Tony for a minute. "Aren't you hot?" He asked Tony.

Looking up from his work fast Tony looked slightly worried. "What?" He asked quickly.

"A – aren't you hot?" He asked again. "Usually you're the first one to be complaining, even if the air conditioning is on." He questioned.

"What's that supposed to mean, Probie?" Tony asked smiling and forcing a laugh.

McGee rolled his eyes and went back to his work. "Well you just don't seem yourself today."

Tony didn't let his worry show through. "Well, Probie, I can assure you I am perfectly fine, normal, regular old Tony." He said, wow that was such a lie.

"Ya know, Tony, McGee is right. You are acting a little off today." Kate said.

Tony tried to protest but Gibbs saved him from saying anything as he came through again looking at a folder in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. "That anything to worry about, Boss?" Tony asked looking questioningly at the folder, happy to be away from the conversation he was having with his coworkers.

"It's nothing, DiNozzo, just something about those mutants," Tony's head snapped back up to his boss and silently asked what happened, Gibbs caught on to his wonder and began explaining the situation. "Says here a young Marines Petty Officer just manifested some mutant abilities, says she couldn't control them and blew up her dorm room."

"Was anybody hurt?" Kate asked worried.

"No, her roommate was just injured." Gibbs said, "There just warning everybody about this."

"And w – what do you think, Boss?" Tony asked stuttering a bit.

"I don't know, never actually met one." He said as he went away to get himself another cup of coffee. "And, DiNozzo!" he called back, "I want to see that paper work done _today_."

"Sure thing, Boss." He called back. Dammit, Tony thought, he could feel heat rising up in him again. Damn, why did he have to get so nervous? If he didn't get nervous then he wouldn't have to worry about a thing. Being nervous lead to unwanted power and unwanted power led to nervousness. It was a never ending cycle.

Tony looked at his work afraid to touch it. After a little while he felt eyes on him and looked up only to see Kate and McGee staring at him. "Tony?" Kate asked. "You sure you're okay? Ya look kinda pale."

"Yeah." Tony breathed. "I'm fine."

"You don't look too fine." McGee said. "Are you s – sure you don't want to go down and see Ducky? You might be sick."

"I said I'm fine, I don't get sick." Tony said a little harsher then he meant too.

"What the hell's going on now?" Gibbs asked walking in with a fresh cup of coffee as he walked back through the bullpen and to his desk. "Why can't you just do your work?" He was obviously in a mood today.

"Boss, it's Tony, he doesn't look good and he won't go down and see Ducky." Kate complained.

Gibbs gave Tony a quick looked over and walked over to the younger agent. He placed his hand roughly on his forehead for second and then took it off. Tony breathed a sigh of a relief that he didn't burn Gibbs hand.

"DiNozzo, you're burning up, you're no good to me sick go down and see Ducky, if he confirms that your sick you're going home, no questions asked." He ordered.

Just be thankfully I didn't burn you up, he thought in the back of his mind. "Boss, I feel fine, nothing wrong here."

"Well then if you feel so fine, go down and see Ducky. If you're not sick then you won't be afraid to prove it." Gibbs said backing Tony into a corner.

"Fine then." Tony said and got up; he walked over to the elevator when it opened they were greeted by their very own gothic forensic scientist.

"Um, hi!" Abby said surprised to see them all standing there. "What's going on?" She asked.

"We're taking Tony to Ducky because he's sick." Kate answered.

"Aww." She said sympathy filling her eyes. "I was coming up because I was going to get a CD out of my car but this is much better." She quipped.

They all stepped in the elevator next to Abby who joyfull accompanied them, and that's when Tony realized his stupid mistake; of course they were going to notice something now. He looked up and saw McGee and Kate also went in the elevator too and Gibbs didn't stop them. Great that was less room in here, he was already scrunched up against the corner so not to touch anybody.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened reveling the morgue. Ducky was standing in there, he seemed to be sliding one of the bodies back in. He glanced up when they "Why hello, why bring all of you down here?"

"Tony feels icky." Abby said.

"No I don't." He said even through no one was paying attention.

"Okay young Anthony, open wide." Ducky said as he set a thermometer and placed it in his mouth.

Tony reluctantly did what he was told. They all waited for several seconds without saying anything until the thermometer beeped fast, signalling that he did have a fever before they even looked at the numbers. Ducky took it out and furrowed his eyebrows as he read the number. "Why this says your temperature is too high to read but that's impossible."

"What do you mean impossible." Gibbs asked.

"Well when it says it can't read it, basically it means Anthony should be dead. But there is the chance this one is broken. Come follow me."

Oh it's not broken, Tony thought as he dolfully got up and follwed him.

"Sit there, now this one can go up to amazing temperatures it transmits the signal to that screen and it'll show the exact number." He placed the thermometer in Tony's mouth and Tony closed his eyes.

He heard the slight beeping of the numbers going up behind him and he turned slightly to see it. 105, 110, 130, 165, 189, 210, 260, he could take it anymore the final number was 277 degrees and it wasn't even finished. Tony threw the thermometer out of his mouth and ran from the room. He heard them following behind him, he pressed the button the elevator praying it was not in use and lucky him it wasn't. He ran in and closed the doors immediately. He heard pounding on the doors and sighed that they couldn't get in.

"The stairs." Gibbs said and the group ran up the stairs after their team member.

Tony could feel the heat rising rapidly in him, he saw a small flame start in his hand but he closed his fist before it got any bigger.

When the doors opened he ran out and to the next elevator that would take him to the garage. Running through the office he felt a hand grab his arm. Tony turned around to find Gibbs Tony used his free hands and tried to push Gibbs away but in the process flames erupted form his palm catching Gibb's suit on fire and leaving a nasty burn on his shoulder and chest. Tony stared at it with his mouth open in horror. Kate was standing beside him and she let out a short scream when the flames appeared. McGee came up with Abby and they only saw the aftermath of Gibbs trying to put his shirt out.

When they all came up Tony turned and tried pressing the button on the elevator but it was being used. He cursed and headed to the stairs. it didn;t take him long to run down, he was skipping almost every flight, jumping his way down. He already had a good lead on everybody else and he pushed open the doors to the garage. He reached in his pocket and grabbed his keys when he got to his car he tried to open the door but he glanced at his hand he realized the heat from had warped them so he couldn't open the door.

"God dammit!" He screamed as his coworkers ran in the garage. He turned around to face them; they stood about seven yards from him. Tony looked at them with fearful eyes and steaming hot tears running down his face. Tony's hand was on his car and he felt something under it, he looked down and lifted his hand and there was a hand print imbedded on the roof of his pride and joy.

Slowly he looked back up to them. "I'm sorry." He choked out.

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AN: Wow people read it and liked it! Cool! I'm sorry if some people seemed a bit OOC in this chapter but I have no excuse the only one I can think of is this is my first attempt at this and that one has been used to death. Thank you all those who reviewed and they are: **G**,** Shirik**,** CSIMel**,** imbreena**,** Melissa Jooty**, and** gopie. **Thanks again, and to say one thing when I was trying to decide what kind of powers Tony should have I was stuck between Gambit and Pyro so it's not quite either it's kind of in between sorta. Ah that's confusing, I know it. He can start fires but only when he gets energy high enough at all other times it's just a lot of heat. Okay, I'll be back soon with a new chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

Tony stared at his coworkers and they stared right back in total shock. He put his hands over his eyes to try and stop the tears but he wasn't very successful. When he looked back up he saw Gibbs begin to slowly walk to him. "Please, please don't… don't come near me." Tony whispered.

"Tony," Gibbs said walking over to his frightened agent. "Calm down, everything's going to be okay."

"Okay? Okay? How can you think that, Boss?" Tony asked removing his hands from his eyes. "Look at me, I'm a freak…"

"No, Tony, you're not." Gibbs said trying to calm him.

Tony shook his head and looked down, this situation was only making his temperature rise now his tears couldn't even leave his eyes without evaporating and rising up in the form of steam from his face. With one last moan from him Tony collapsed to the ground unconscious.

"Gibbs?" Abby said in a small voice. "Sh – should we call an ambulance?"

"No, just get him to Ducky's lab."

"Um, how, Boss?" McGee asked. "We can't touch him."

"I have some fire blankets in my lab Jethro we can use them." Ducky said and walked to the elevator to bring them back as fast as he could.

Kate leaned down next tot Tony and she could feel the heat radiating off him. "Why didn't he ever tell us?" She asked no one in particular as she looked down at him in pure sympathy.

Gibbs shook his head speechless, nothing like this had ever happened before and he was never expecting anything like it to ever happen. Gibbs let out a long breath and began to pace the garage, people saw what happened, people will start to talk. He didn't want Tony's secret completely exposed like that but as much as Gibbs wanted to he couldn't control gossip. Dammit DiNozzo, why does he have to hide everything, he's open about all the wrong things.

McGee looked at Tony with a terrified look on; he had heard nothing but bad things about these mutants or whatever they were called. He didn't want to believe Tony was a bad guy, he really didn't. And even if Tony wasn't a bad guy this could still bring nothing but bad. All mutants were looked down on, he understood why Gibbs didn't want to take him to the hospital they would probably treat him poorly. McGee wrung his hands together looked down at the ground for a second and then back at Tony, he could help but think of all the 'what if's'.

Kate bit her bottom lip, she wanted to hold Tony and tell him everything was going to be alright but she couldn't be a foot away from him without feeling the intense heat. She looked at him and could feel tears beginning to form in her own eyes but she quickly bought her had up and whipped them away before anyone saw. How could this happen to Tony? How long had this been going on? This wasn't something new, she could tell. He knew about everything before they went down to the lab. She looked at Tony's form and his steady breathing silently praying for him.

Abby let the tears pour freely down her face letting her eyeliner and mascara run. Why do all the bad things have to happen to Tony? What did he ever do? Not that this was a bad thing but poor Tony! With all those mutant haters out there, she of course was completely fine with mutants and has even protested with them a few times. They were nice people just wanting respect. But this can't happen to Tony, she thought she knew him. Shouldn't they have noticed this sooner? What if they were just bad friends and there was something wrong for a while now and they just never noticed?

Soon Ducky came back with the fire blankets. "Okay Jethro take his head and Timothy take his feet." He said handing them each a fire blanket. Lifting him up the girls supported him using the third blanket under his back and legs. They all carried him down to the lab threw the stairs; they didn't want to walk back through the offices. Luckily there was a door that attacked the two stair wells and they bought him down and placed him on a table.

They took they blankets off and Ducky began setting up equipment around him. "Now this should tell us his body heat." He said setting something up and placing it on his arm. A number flashed on the screen they began to change rapidly, finally after only a few seconds it settled at 367.

"His temperature went down." Kate observed looking at the screen.

"Yes, it's probably from the state of rest he is in right now, no stress no worrying equals a cooler body temperature apparently." Ducky explained. "Now Jethero come here, those burns have to be treated."

"No, Ducky I'm fine." Gibbs said not talking his eyes off Tony.

"Jethro," he said sternly. "Come let me at least look at them."

"Ducky." Gibbs as he reluctantly walked over to the M.E. "I'm fine, they're not that bad I've had worse."

"I'm sure you have but even a small burn can lead to an infection; I once had this friend in Africa…" Ducky went on to talk about his friend but no one was really listening, even Abby wasn't. They were to busy worrying about Tony.

After several minutes Ducky finished bandaging Gibbs chest and shoulder and Gibbs went off to go get a new shirt. A few minutes later he came back wearing an NCIS t-shirt. He sat down in a chair by the table and waited with the rest of the team.

Almost three hours had passed and Tony still had yet to wake up. None the less the team never left, but his temperature had gone down and settled at 205 degrees and Ducky said that since it hadn't changed in almost an hour that's what it was likely to say at. Despite the still high temperature they were now able to touch him and he felt just a little hot but nothing that you would get burned by.

"Gibbs, is he ever gonna wake up?" Abby asked quietly looking up to Gibbs as she stroked Tony's hair.

Without hesitating for a second he answered her. "Of course he is."

Abby nodded and continued to stroke his hair.

Almost an hour later Tony moved slightly while giving out a low moan, getting everyone's attention, he slowly opened his eyes. Things were blurry at first so his vision scanned the area look for something familair, but soon his eyes did clear. As soon as he saw the people crowded around him he flinched back and gasped slightly.

"Tony, Tony, it's just us." Kate said placing her hand on his.

Tony smiled at Kate and looked down at her hand holding his. "Having fun, Kate?" He asked.

She quickly pulled her hand away. "No."

"Oh Tony!" Abby squealed and hugged him. "I'm so glad to see you're awake!"

"Yes, it is good to see you up and well." Ducky said walking over to the group smiling down at them.

"If you guys could leave us alone for a few minutes, DiNozzo and I have a few things to discus." Gibbs said with a blank look on staring at Tony.

The team nodded and said their goodbyes before leaving the room. Tony looked up at his boss but quickly averted his eyes, the cold stare Gibbs was giving him was too much. Tony waited for the first question to come up, but he already knew what it was. He just wanted to here it from Gibbs.

"So DiNozzo, when the hell did this happen and how long have you been lying?" He asked and Tony bit his bottom lip before giving his answer.

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AN: Oooo that's a bad place to leave off. But I did it anyway MUHAHAHAHA. Okay I'm sorry, wow, I got a lot of reviews for this! Thanks guys! I usually put up all the people who review but I got a lot and I'm just to high on soda and candy to do that right now. My sisters graduation party hehe, it was fun. But once again thanks for the reviews I'll probably do the name off thing next chapter if it's not to late when I post it. Okay I'll do a quick little disclaimer now I own nothing if I owned stuff I can guarantee you I would be living in this crappy ass state or in this crappy ass house, some say its vintage I say it's old.


	4. Chapter 4

Tony didn't look at Gibbs, he kept his eyes on the stark white sheets that laid on top of him, or on the floor, or ceiling anywhere but on Gibbs. What was he supposed to say? He wanted to tell Gibbs the truth he really did but the truth didn't sound to good. Tony cursed himself, he would give anything to be able to go back in time and take a sick day. Why couldn't that be his power? It would make life so much easier. But then again life really did like to screw him over of course he would get a dangerous power that he couldn't control.

"Well?" Gibbs asked snapping Tony out of his thought and he looked up to his boss who was staring at him with no emotion.

"I – Gibbs… I – I can't…" Tony said shaking his head.

"Yes, DiNozzo, you can, I've known you a long time and you're not a guy to say you can't." Gibbs said his voice softening slightly giving Tony a bit more comfort. "Now, tell me when this happened. Why were you hiding it from us?"

"It happened when I was thirteen." Tony said and Gibbs eyes widened slightly. He knew it happened a while ago but he wasn't expecting Toy to be that young. "Um…" Tony said swallowing a lump in his throat. "I came home from school, I got a bad grade on my report card," he smirked and gave a humorless laugh. "I was trying to hide it from my father, I thought he wasn't home but turned out he was waiting for me, my teacher called." Tony's face began to grow blanker and his voice became lower. "My dad got really, really mad at me, he yelled at me not only for the grade but for trying to hide it as well. Gotta tell ya, these… _powers_ just might have saved me from a beating that day, he was scared to come near me."

Gibbs winced at this, he suspecting abuse from some of the other things Tony had said about his father but this just confirmed it. But Gibbs stayed quiet and waited for Tony to continue not wanting to push him after a few seconds Tony began to speak again.

"Um… h – he grabbed my arm for about one second before letting go… I burned him he had a bad burn on his hand for a few days he had to tell everybody that he grabbed the handle of a hot frying pan. I don't think anyone believed him…" Tony trailed off with a slight smirk on his face staring down at the sheets. "But anyway," He said raising his voice and trying to sound more cheerful. "I think I did a damn good job at keeping it a secret don't 'cha think, Boss?"

"Tony," Gibbs stared sighing. "There in lies the problem, why you kept it a secret. You know you can trust us."

"Why do you think, Boss?" Tony asked his voice going quiet again and looking directly at Gibbs. "As much as I hate to admit it, I was afraid of your reaction. I'm still afraid of your reaction, I've seen how McGee looks at me now. He's scared and edgy around me. I don't like that."

"Well of course he is, DiNozzo!" Gibbs said loudly making Tony jump slightly. "He doesn't handle new things well, but you saw Kate, you saw Abby and Ducky. They don't care and you give McGee a day or two he'll come around, he always does."

"Yeah, I guess." Tony said, "How is this gonna effect everyone else?" Gibbs looked at him questioningly; he didn't entirely understand that question. "I mean with the media, I'm out now, everyone knows by now it's probably all over the news and I'm sure it's nothing good."

"DiNozzo, if you're getting at what I think you're getting are you can shut up right now. Screw the damn media, I don't care you're my senior field agent, my best agent, you're not going anywhere for a long time."

Tony smiled and his goofy attitude began to come back. "Really, I'm your best agent. Hehe, you like me."

"I wouldn't call it liking you; I'd call it more admiring you that such an intelligent brain can occupy someone so stupid."

"You called me smart, you do like me."

Gibbs slapped Tony on the back of the head and Tony pulled a face. "Was that really necessary?" Tony asked rubbing his head.

"Are you questioning me, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"No." Tony answered quickly.

The two sat in a long silence for several minutes until Tony spoke, his voice soft and almost a whisper. "Boss…?"

"Yeah?"

"Are things gonna change? I mean like, between us?" Tony asked.

"Absolutely not, what were we just talking about? Things are gonna stay exactly the way they are. You're my agent and I'm your boss that is never going to change. You will however try and learn how to control this though." Tony nodded understanding. "You can't be setting things on fire when ever you get nervous, angry or scared."

"I know." Tony replied.

"Speaking of which you owe me a new suit." Gibbs said.

"Oh, yeah, heh, forgot about that." Tony said shifting his position slightly. "Sorry about that, did I burn you to bad?" he asked timidly.

"I didn't think so but Ducky insisted it needed immediate attention."

"Yeah, sorry, I didn't know I could make fire… that ones all new to me too." Tony said. "It really doesn't make me feel any better though."

"So you didn't know about that." Gibbs stated.

Tony nodded and took a deep breath still uneasy talking about this. "No, um, I just knew I could go up to high temperatures."

Gibbs nodded and leaned back in his chair. "So, you feeling any better? We were a little worried for a while there, you were out for hours."

"Wow, really?" Tony asked raising his eyebrows and Gibbs once again simply nodded. "Well, enough of sitting around here I wanna get up." He said sitting up and taking the sheet off him.

"Understandable," Gibbs said. "But I really don't want you running around, you still must be a bit tired."

Tony smirked and looked over to his boss. "You're worried for me, I knew you liked me."

Gibbs rolled his eyes smacked him upside the head one last time and hoped the people up in the office were ready to see Tony.

Abby walked to Kate's desk and sat down on it, her high healed, knee high boots softly tapping the side of the desk. They had barley said two words to each other while they waited for him, McGee just cut himself off from everyone, he was thinking about, well, what to think. Abby was just pacing playing with her rings or choker, Kate was curling her hair in her fingers and Ducky was sitting in a chair with his head in his hand thinking to himself.

The elevator dinged and Tony stepped out followed closely by Gibbs. Tony's hands were in his pockets, he had his head down and looking a bit self conscious. Abby jumped off and shuffled over to Tony the best she could with her shoes and gave him a great big hug. He smiled slightly and hugged her back feeling a little bit more comfortable.

Kate then got up after her and when Abby finally let go she gave Tony a quick hug. "Welcome back." She said quietly in his ear.

He smiled at her thankfully but managed to turn it into a flirtatious grin. Ducky came over and out his hand on his shoulder, "Glad you're feeling better, my boy."

Tony smiled to them, still having a thousand worries running through his mind, but maybe it wouldn't be as bad as he thought. Little did he know how the media would expose it out of proportion.

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AN: I'm sorry this was so late… I'm lazy I really, really am but at least I got it up right? Once again I'm not gonna thank all the people individually that would take to long and I'll probably get sidetracked and forget to upload it. So I'll just thank you all in a whole, thank you all my wonderful reviewers I would not have continued this without you! Okay I'll try and update soon, see ya then.


	5. Chapter 5

Tony sat at his desk and did his paperwork, he didn't want to go home even though Gibbs repeatedly told him to. He just wanted to go through the day, just like it was a normal day. But he couldn't help but thank the Lord that they didn't get any cases that day, he really didn't want to deal with that now. It was nearing five o'clock and Tony heard footsteps coming to his desk. He looked up to see Gibbs standing over him.

"Tony you're going home." He said in a monotone showing no emotion on his face what so ever.

Tony groaned and leaned back in his chair. "But, Boss, I don't wanna go home. There is no reason I have to go." He said placing his hands behind his head.

"DiNozzo, are you arguing with me?" Gibbs asked folding his arms.

"No."

"Then go home, I don't need to explain myself." Gibbs said and walked back over to his desk. Grabbing his coffee he sat down and Tony glared at him for a few seconds until he looked back up. "Do I need to walk you to your car?" he asked in a cocky voice.

"No, I'm fine." Tony said picking up his things. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kate walking over as he picked up his bag. "Hey, what's up?" He asked as she stopped next to his desk.

"I'm going to drive you home." She said and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Oh, why?" he moaned.

"Because we all agreed you are in no condition to drive yourself home." She said.

"I am in perfect condition, I feel fine." Kate raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay so maybe I was out for few seconds," she shot him another look. "Minutes, fine I was out for a few hours or so what do you want from me?"

"To admit that you can't deal with this on your own," she said.

"I've been dealing with this for years and years and years. I never needed help controlling my temper or my feelings. I'm good at keeping my cool. As long as my emotions stay in check I'm fine and I really don't see myself blowing up on anything soon." Tony said in a low voice trying to stay completely calm.

"You can't bottle everything up forever and when you finally do blow someone could get hurt!" Kate said her voice rising a little bit; she was getting tired of Tony's attitude.

Tony had no response, he knew this was true. One day he would lose his temper, and he would hurt someone. He didn't want that, he's been having nightmares of that happening for years, ever since he first discovered his power. It haunted him. Mentally shaking his head he pushed those thought out of his head and slowly nodded in defeat.

"Okay then," Kate nodded and began to leave with Tony following. "Come on McGee."

"Wait what?" Tony asked looking confused.

"Someone has to take your car back." Kate said as though it were obvious.

Tony looked horrified at someone driving _his_ car. McGee smiled and walked over to him. "Don't worry, Tony, I'll careful."

For the first time since he had seen McGee since this happened he looked normal. He looked as though nothing had ever happened at all; Tony couldn't help but smile at this.

"See that you do, Probie." He said.

The trio walked over to the elevator and went down to the garage. Gibbs watched them as they left, things weren't going to change, not at all.

Abby was in her lab drinking her caf-pow bobbing her head to some overly-loud music. She was dead bored. Wandering around she went to the live security cameras and decided to look around and see what's up. Clicking around them she paused and the straw fell out of her mouth and she stared with her mouth open at the screen she just pulled up.

"Oh, no…" She whispered and grabbed her cell phone speed dialing Gibb's number. After one ring he picked up and she didn't even allow him to say anything. "Gibbs, don't let them down to the garages!"

The elevator door dinged and opened they took about one step and were swarmed with paparazzi. All asking a thousand questions at once.

"Is it true that you're a mutant?"

"Are you going to continue to work with the NCIS?"

"Is it true you attacked your boss?"

"Will you continue to work with him now that you know what he really is?"

Tony immediately panicked, he started to back up only to realize the doors have already closed and he was stuck. He could feel his suppressed emotions begin to rise. His body temperature going up higher then it already was. Kate, being pinned up against him, felt his body heat increase. She tuned and looked at him with a worried face and saw his face in sheer terror. Glancing over to McGee she saw him try and take charge (to the best of his ability, he wasn't exactly the best at it), she knew she should help him since Tony seemed immobile but she also couldn't leave Tony in the state he was.

"Tony!" She yelled over the reporters. "Tony! Tony, look at me!" She grabbed the sides of his face and forced him to look down at her, Lord, his face was so hot it felt like he had a temperature of 120 degrees but she knew it was much higher then that.

Fearful eyes looked down at her and she stared into them. "Tony, please, calm down. Just breath, everything will be fine."

"I can't." He breathed barley audible, nothing was working he was losing control again, he shook his head saying he couldn't calm down he couldn't stop it. She felt the heat under her hands rise.

Her hands were burning under his skin, she tried not to let it show and just hold onto him but he caught the slight pain in her eyes. He reached up to get her hands off him with his but only succeeded in burning her wrists.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"

Almost everyone went silent, they turned and saw Gibbs standing in the elevator door. He was mad, he looked around at all the reporters with pure hatred. "How the hell did you get in here and stop harassing my agent!" he yelled at them. "Get out!"

They hardly moved and one reporter even had the nerve to yell out 'freedom of the press'. Gibbs looked as if he was about to shot something when the door opened once again revealing Jenny and Abby, she must have gotten her when she saw that Gibbs didn't.

Jenny walked over and gave a hard glare to everyone. "Leave my building, now!" She said in a stern pissed off as anything voice. "You're not even allowed to be here in the first place, so get your asses out of here."

The group began to scatter and soon, after several more threats by various NCIS agents, they were all gone. Kate looked down at Tony, she had to let go, she didn't want to but she had to. Looking at him she felt a wave a sympathy wash over her, he was on the floor against the wall with his knees to his chest and holding his head in his hands. She kneeled down next to him and began to talk to him in a low voice trying to calm him down.

Gibbs looked at his agent, damn media, getting their nose into everything. They had no right. After a few seconds he looked up at Jenny who was also looking down at Tony with a crushed look on. "What are you doing down here?" he asked quietly so only they could hear.

"I'm not that mean, Jethro, Abby got me. DiNozzo is a good kid, he disserves all the people he can get standing up for him. And I'm not going to stand by and watch while people ridicule him." She said softly.

Gibbs nodded and said nothing more he looked back down to his shaken up agent. He noticed that Abby was now at Tony's side trying to calm him a long with Kate. He wanted to bend down pick up his agent put one of his arms around his shoulders and walk him to his own car to give him a ride home, but he couldn't touch him. No one could. The only way Tony was going to move is if Tony moved himself.

What seemed like hours later, but was really only a few minutes Tony shifted him position. He looked up at his co-workers and took in a shaky breath. "Sorry." He whispered.

Gibbs let out a breath and slapped him lightly on the back of the head; thank god his temperature was now decreasing. "Shut up." He said quietly. "Tony, I'm taking you home."

Tony nodded and stuffed his hands in his pockets, Gibbs led him over to his car and they both got in and drove off leaving the rest of the team behind. They remained silent and walked back up to the offices.

AN: Sorry this was so late but I am real busy. But at least I got it up right? And I'm also sorry for any OOC on Jenny's part but I have never written her. So sorry on that, I don't plan on giving her too many lines except maybe a few more talks with Gibbs but that's about it. Um, also I'll be leaving for vacation on Saturday so I'm like 95 percent sure there will be no more updates before I leave but the next chapter will be interesting, I have most of it already planned out so there is a small chance I'll get one more up but don't get your hopes up to high. Thank you for all the reviews and I'll see you next time!


	6. Chapter 6

Tony unlocked his door to his apartment and walked in, it took all his strength to persuade Gibbs not to go with him make sure he got there okay. He knew it was just because he cared, even if Gibbs denied every word of it, but sometimes it just got annoying. Flopping down on the couch he thought about what had happened to him that day, almost everything that could go wrong did. His powers were exposed, he could hardly control them now, he almost hurt the people he cared about most and to top it all of, the entire _world_ now knew what he was.

He rubbed his face and closed his eyes for a few seconds trying to get everything in order. After a minute or so he realized he wouldn't be able to do this and reached for the remote on the coffee table in front of him and propped his feet up on it. Aimlessly he surfed several channels finding nothing, he sighed and let his hand fall looking next to the TV he saw his wide collection of movies. Getting up he walked over to them and randomly picked one out, he didn't even look at the title. He changed the channel so he could put the movie in and seconds before he placed it in he saw what was on the TV. It was the news he turned it up slightly and listened to the woman talking.

"- the mutants have gotten together and begun a protest. We're not sure if a riot will break out or not but by the looks of it one just might." Tony scoffed, just by looking at them he could tell they didn't want to riot. "More and more mutants seem to be coming out and exposing themselves for this event. They seem to be demanding respect and wanting to be treated like, as they put it, humans."

Tony scoffed and viciously turned off the TV and threw the remote down on the couch next to him and got up. Suddenly this whole mutant issue seemed to have gotten worse just because he was exposed and it really sucked. Tony ran his hand threw his hair and let out a long sigh. He couldn't just brush this 'problem' off to the side anymore, he was part of the problem now. He was one of them, he always knew he was but he had never really accepted it.

Lost in his thoughts he absently walked over to the thermometer and turned the temperature in the room up. It was already at seventy five degrees. Suddenly realizing what he was doing her looked up and saw he had raised it up to eighty degrees. Frustrated he punched the thermometer and smashed it to pieces and cracked the wall.

"Dammit!" He yelled realizing that it was not smart to punch hard, solid objects. He went to his kitchen and ran his hand under cold water he could see stem rise up but he closed his eyes and ignored it.

Cursing himself Tony felt tears well up in his eyes but he managed to suppress them. He tried to calm himself, he couldn't afford to get all worked up and start burning things now. When he dried off his hand he walked over to the small balcony in his apartment, he put his arms on the railing and rested his head on them, hiding any tears that would sneak though.

Back at the office Gibbs and just come back and when he walked up to the office his team looked up at him expectantly. He walked right by not giving them one glance, he grabbed a cup of coffee and went over to the elevator. When the doors closed to take him down to the morgue the team all exchanged glances.

"How do you think Tony's doing?" McGee asked looking at Kate and Abby, who hadn't gone back down to her lab yet.

"I really can't say the idiot brushes everything off so quickly it's hard to tell what really bothers him and what doesn't." Kate said sighing. "But… this has to, if this doesn't bother him he's crazier then we thought."

"But he'll be fine right? I mean he's Tony. He's pulled though with everything." Abby said trying to be hopeful that everything would still turn out perfectly fine.

"God, Abby, I hope you're right." Kate said and rested her head on her desk.

"She is… I _know_ she is." McGee said tapping his foot and looking nervous. "Soon he'll be back and everything will be back to the way it was. Tony can't break."

Kate ran her hand though her dark and sighed one again. She was so worried about him, he didn't know how worried about him she was. She knew Tony was strong, he was the strongest out of all of them, even giving Gibbs a run for his money. But… was he strong enough for this? This was something none of them had prepared for, something that none of them would ever think could happen.

"Kate."

She looked up to see Abby standing there smiling. "Don't worry about him, he'll be fine and soon he _will_ be back with us… and with you." She added quietly, he smiling growing larger and she winked.

Kate raised her eyebrows at Abby's words and her expression. She clearly gave Abby a look that said 'you're delusional'.

Tony was still on his balcony looking up at the sky, for a second he could have sworn he had seen something, or someone, flying through the sky. He quickly brushed it off as a bird after a few seconds.

Walking back into his home he sat back down on the couch and sighed, suddenly a knock was heard on the door. Tony furrowed his brow and got up to look though the peep hole. If it was Gibbs or another one of his co-workers he was going to be mad. But when he looked though he saw a man maybe a little bit younger then himself, he had well groomed blond hair and blue eyes. He seemed to be fixing his trench coat and moving his shoulders around uncomfortably.

Tony shrugged and opened the door a few inches. "What?" He asked a little rudely but he wasn't really in the mood for strangers popping by his home.

"Oh, um, you Anthony DiNozzo?" He asked a little uncomfortably.

"Who's asking?"

"Warren Worthington, this is gonna sound a little crazy but I was sent to talk to you."

"About what?"

"Well it seems that, oh man how am I gonna explain this…?" he asked himself quietly. "Um, well when the Professor picked you up you seemed really, really, frustrated and mad."

Tony was just confused now, was someone watching him? Warren must have noticed this because he spoke up.

"Look I know this is crazy, I know this is just really insane but he told me to come because we have similar pasts I guess. He told me just to talk to you cause when he picked you up ya seemed in real bad shape. I'll explain it all just give me a chance at this."

Tony sighed, he couldn't believe he was about to do this, he quietly took the gun he kept on his desk next to the door and slipped it under his shirt and in his pocket. He unhooked the chain on his door and opened it all the way letting him in.

"Thank you." Warren said as he stepped in and let out a sigh of relief. "Really thank you, I was worried you wouldn't let me in."

"That would've been the smart thing to do." Tony said.

"Yeah well, I guess I really should start explaining."

"Would be smart."

"Okay, well to be blunt and to shove aside any question I know you're a mutant."

"Pretty much the whole world does now." Tony said in a monotone.

"Yeah, I saw the news and I really am sorry. I kinda know what it's like to be exposed over the news like that." Warren said.

"What would you know about exposure?" Tony asked a little acidly.

"Well I know it sucks," Warren said. "And I would really consider you lucky with what you got."

"Yeah I really am the lucky one." He said sarcastically.

"You just gotta accept it, man, when I first got my powers I hated them, I really, really, did and they manifested in boarding school and that certainly didn't help me any. But then there was a fire in the dorm, I was able to save my dorm mates. But then of course I didn't leave the school but the point is if I didn't accept my powers they probably would have died."

"As touching as that is I'm not in boarding school and the chances are I probably would have started the fire."

"Please just work with me here," Warren said trying to remain calm. "This is hard for both of us."

"How is it hard for you? You're not at risk to lose your job, home, everything in your life because of this!" Tony yelled.

"I did lose everything!" Warren yelled back and it shut Tony up immediately, Warren took a few calming breaths before speaking again. "When I left boarding school I went home, my parents didn't know what I was. they just thought I came home because I wanted to. I was a teen idol, I had everything, money, looks, girls, I was on the cover of every teen magazine there was! But when I was eighteen I was staying at my parents estate while they were away rumor was leaking out that I was a mutant. I denied it dozens of times, but one day I heard something out my window I got up and looked, there was a mob of anti-mutant freaks with a burning X out on my front lawn. They burned my house down and had a gun at my head when the Professor came and got me the hell outta there, so yeah I know about bad times. But it's not gonna stay bad."

Tony was quiet; he wasn't expecting that at all. "Well, um, that was not expected. Heh, I guess you've had it a lot worse then me."

"We've _all_ had it bad, hell go talk to any mutant you can find none of them have a happy story. Well I know a few who do but that's just because they're weird, but none the less even them have had it rough. It just can't be avoided"

Tony smiled. "Wanna know something weird? This, I'm taking about this big problem to someone I just met five minutes ago."

"Yeah I'll agree with you on that one, like I said the only reason I am here is because Professor Xavier said we had a few things in common. Although the only one I can think of is that we both come from wealth."

"And apparently we are both acquainted with fire." Tony said and warren laughed.

"Yes I suppose we are."

"So um, just out of curiosity, w – what's your mutation?" Tony asked.

Warren smiled and nodded. "I was expecting this one," he said and shrugged off his trench coat revealing large white wings on his back. "And I get the full bird deal, hallow bones, body accustomed to high altitudes and speeds… and not to brag but a twenty foot wing span."

"Yeah that's something every guy wants." Tony said admiring the wings.

"Well it should be cause I love these things." Warren placed his coat on the rack by the door before turning back to Tony. "So word around is you're all fire, eh? How's that one work?"

"Hell if I knew, all I know is I can't get mad anymore." Tony said shrugging.

"Ah, you'll get the hang of it. It's really just a matter of concentration… But I do have one more question, why is it that now we're hearing all this stuff? I mean why didn't all happen when you were a kid?"

"Oh it did, but my father wasn't to happy about it… I kinda suppressed it until I guess it just got sick of sitting there in the closet and decided to pop out all over again, kinda sucked."

"I'm sure, do something for me."

Tony shrugged and nodded, it couldn't be that bad.

"Try and make fire, right now. I was told when I came down here to try and help ya get a hold of this thing so try and make fire. Can ya do that, man?"

"Oh… I don't know if I can. Literally I don't know if I can make fire or not."

"Yes you can, Professor said you made fire and set your boss on fire, so I know you can."

Tony glared for a second. "But I still don't know how I did it."

"That's why I'm saying to try."

Tony rolled his eyes and sighed. "Okay fine I'll try." He took a breath and let it out slowly as he concentrated. He held you the hand he used to burn Gibbs and tried to make the fire appear in his hand. After what seemed like hours he opened his eyes. "I can't do – holy shit!" He said and shook his hand which was supporting a ball of flames.

"See told ya, ya could!" Warren said smiling. "Didn't even get a chance to tell ya, ya opened your eyes and you were all 'what the hell'."

"Hey think I could use that on my resume now?" Tony asked and Warren chuckled.

"Okay now we have that over with, wasn't exactly looking forward to playing teacher, um, I guess I really have nothing more to do. I really should be heading back anyway, we're having a lot of problems with Magneto."

"Who's that?" Tony asked.

Warren looked back up at him. "Evil son of a bitch who thinks mutants are superior to humans and that we should rise up and stuff. But he's just giving us some more trouble. With all the new mutants manifesting and running away he's trying to recruit them over to his side before we get to them and have them attend the school. But just in case ya see any mutant run aways give us a good word, will ya?" Warren asked shrugging his shoulders into his coat.

"Um, sure, wait what's the name of the place?" Tony asked realizing Warren had never said.

"Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters." Warren said before he closed the door behind him.

Tony looked at the door for a second before turning away and looking out the window catching a glimpse of what he now knew to be Warren flying away. Thinking about what he said that every mutant has hard times, and that it couldn't be avoided. Smirking Tony got up and walked over to the den. He held his hand out and focused all his energy on the fire. After a minute or so a small amount of flames appeared and the more he concentrated the bigger it got. When it was about the size of his head he grinned even more.

"Oh yeah, I think I'm gonna like this."

AN: Yay! Warren, I chose him because I like him. I really do not think he gets enough time in the movies/cartoons. I mean he's one of the original X-Men for cryin' out loud! But I'm not going to rant. Um, if any of you are wondering I got the story about how Xavier found Warren from 'Children of the Atom' it's a great read. Also his age, I didn't know how old to make him so I figured in his mid - late twenties. And to explain a few things yes I know Morrow was Director at the time Kate was there but to be blunt I can't write him for my life and I like Jen better. Besides I wanted the possibility of a little Gibbs/Jen at some point but that's still if I feel like putting it in. And about the key thing this may just be my family being paranoid but we all have extra car keys (except me cuz I have no car) in there desks at work or where ever ya know? It's like a curse that we get locked out of our cars. So yeah Thanks for the reviews I love them all I never thought this story would get so popular.

And this uber long chapter was to make up for the fact I couldn't update fot almost three weeks.


	7. Chapter 7

"Oh come on, Boss, I need my car." Tony said over the phone, he had forgotten that his car was still in the NCIS parking garage. "How am I supposed to go anywhere?"

"DiNozzo you're not getting your car until I think you are fit to come into work. If I give it to you and still tell you not to come in you will come in anyway." Gibbs said. "End of story." He finished and snapped his cell phone shut taking another drink from his coffee.

Tony grunted and hung up the phone he went over to the table sat down at it and pouted for a few minutes. During his pouting he remembered what Warren had said about learning to control his powers. He thought about how the day before he was able to create fire on his own will. Wondering Tony thought about what else he could do. Curious about his abilities he stood up and held his hand out concentrating on that spot. Not a minute went by before a small flame floated above his palm.

"Alright…" Tony muttered and focused some more. The flame got bigger and bigger until it was bigger then his head. While he was staring at the flame he was oblivious to the fact that he was wearing a long sleeved shirt. Finally he noticed that the end of his sleeve had caught fire and was now burning up to his elbow.

"Crap!" He yelled and dropped the flame in his panic, he put the fire on his sleeve out but in doing so he ignored the ball of flames he had dropped on the floor. "Aw, dammit!" He yelled and looked around for what to do. Wait, he thought, if he could create the flames maybe he could destroy them as well. Staring at the fire on his thankfully tile kitchen floors. He concentrated as hard as possible, he squinted his eyes slightly as if he was string down the flames. Soon they grew smaller and diminished, Tony smirked and tried harder making the flames grow lower and lower until finally they were nothing but ash.

"This isn't so bad after all." He said to himself but his smile quickly faded upon seeing the large brown and black burned section on his kitchen floor. "Oh man…" He sighed and took a rag from his sink he ran it under water and started scrubbing the floor trying to get the burn marks off.

When he was done he stared at the blackened tiles on his floor and let out a long deep sigh. "Oh well," he muttered. "I can always buy new tiles." He got up and threw the rag in the sink. "Okay, no dropping flaming balls anymore." He muttered to himself and then looked down at his sleeve, "Hm… I liked this shirt."

He walked over to his bedroom and threw his shirt of into the trash and began rummaging though his closet for a new one. He picked one up, short sleeved this time.

Tony walked out into his living room and looked around, he spotted the fire place and smirked, perfect. He walked over to it and held his hand out once again. Concentrating to make the fire flames erupted from his hand quicker then he was expecting and when it was about the size of a softball he used his other hand to open the gate to the fire place. He tossed the flame up in the air and caught it with his other hand; he aimed for a second and threw the ball of flames in the fire place.

"Oh yeah, I'm good." He said to himself laughing. "Now a little bit more fire." He stared down the flames and slowly they crept up in height. "Not to big now." He said and continued to focus on the flames until they went out and there was nothing left but red hot coals.

For the rest of the day Tony played around with his pyro abilities and soon got the hang of it pretty well. He still could not control the temperature of his body when he got mad or frustrated but he would learn that in due time.

In a few hours Tony was feeling good, he had pretty good control over it. It seemed that through all the years he was suppressing it he was actually slowly learning to control it as well. But he still had no doubts that if he was able to embrace it when he was younger that now he'd be a pro at it.

Now Tony was in the middle of his living room juggling three flaming balls. Right now he had yet to drop one. Suddenly there was a knock at his door startling him he almost dropped the flames. Luckily he caught all three in time before they hit the floor but they burned his shirt when he pinned one against his stomach so he wouldn't drop it. He put them out and looked down at his shirt he cussed slightly and took off that one and threw it in the garbage, he had ruined two shirts that day. Wearing his undershirt he jogged to the door as the person began knocking again, opening it he saw his neighbor standing at the door.

"Hi, Sammy, what do I owe the pleasure?" Tony asked his neighbor. She was about a head shorter then Tony with medium length red hair. Tony had gone out with her once but it didn't work out now they just remained neighbors and good friends.

"Tony I was walking by and I smelled smoke. Is everything okay?" She asked with a concerned face on.

"Yeah everything's fine." Tony said nodding. "Just burned some, uh, toast."

"You were making toast at four o'clock in the afternoon?" She asked cocking her head and looking doubtful.

"Yeah, I like my toast." He said defensively.

Sammy raised her eyebrows and smirked as she looked down a little relieved that it was nothing serious. But when she looked down she noticed the brown burned stain on his undershirt. "Then, Tony, what's that." She said and poked his stomach where the burn was.

"Oh, uh, I was um a candle I was burning a candle and I held it to close to my chest." He said trying to think of the best excuse he could think of without saying I was playing with fire.

"Sure you were…" She said and bit her lip. "Tony… you know you can tell me anything. Now what the hell is going on?"

Tony sighed and shook his head. "I just don't know if I can tell you." He saw the look of hurt on her face and quickly continued. "Yet, I mean, I just don't think I can tell you yet. Just hang on. I'll tell you or you will figure it out just, not yet."

She nodded. "Okay, well, I'll be next door if you need me." She said and left the doorway.

"You always are there, never get a date do ya?" Tony called out jokingly.

"Unlike you who picks up the first girl he sees." She responded with a grin on as she opened the door to her home.

Tony closed his door and leaned his back up against it and sighed. Wait, why was he still not telling everybody? Wait, how did she not know? Had she been living under a rock for the past couple days? He pushed it out of his mind and left the door walking into his home. Deciding he was staying at home too much lately Tony slipped into a stylish dress shirt gave his himself a quick look over in the mirror and smiled. He was good to go.

He walked out his door and locked it behind him and put the key in his pocket. Tony thought about the fact that he was short one car but then decided he was in shape why not walk? He jumped in the elevator and went down to the first floor, when he got out he passed a few girls that shared a room a level below him and smiled and flirted a little. They giggled and he went on his way.

"I am on fire." He said to himself and laughed a little at his pun.

Tony walked down the street in a good mood. After hitting on a few girls he decided to walk into a small store to buy a bottle of water when a boy, couldn't be older then twenty, walked in. He looked suspicious and slightly jumpy, he walked a little faster then someone normally would but Tony brushed that off. Tony looked at him with a raised eyebrow and turned his back but still keeping a sharp eye on him. Taking the water Tony made that he was going to buy something else, it could just be that this man was weird but Tony had a feeling in his gut and being a agent for so many years he had learned to go with it.

The man walked up to the counter and made it look like he was looking at the cigarettes until he made a move on the cashier faster then the blink of en eye and he was holding him around the neck.

"Empty the register." He said quickly still with a good grip on his neck.

The man went to open the register when Tony pulled his gun out from under his shirt along with his badge and held then out. "Let the guy go." He said and the boy looked up at him.

"Heh, you think that scares me?" In a flash before Tony could do a thing his gun and badge were taken away and he was standing there with no weapon. The boy appeared again at the counter holding the gun and badge. "Hm, these could be useful. Got any other things on ya I should know about?"

Tony put his hands up and shook his head, he had figured this kid was a mutant. Tony was at a loss he had never faced a mutant before.

The boy ran over and quickly frisked Tony In less then a second then went back with the gun still pointed at Tony. "Okay you're clean now would you mind? He said and jumped back over the counter. "I said open the register!" he yelled.

"Not gonna happen." Tony said and flamed shot up in his hands. The boy was about to run over to him but quickly stopped when he saw that no matter where he went he got burned when Tony fired up his body heat to above 300 degrees.

"Whoa, you're a mutie too?" he said and in a split second reached in and grabbed the money from the drawer.

One of the flames in Tony's hand turned into a ball and he whipped it at the boys back right as he started to run out the door. He yelled and fell forward, tripping over his own feet fro the speed. Tony ran up to him and pinned him down with one hand on his back, he lowered his temperature so that he wouldn't leave to bad a burn on his back.

Tony reached in his pocket and whipped open his phone, he called the police and reported what happened and where they were.

The boy was kicking his feet unbelievably fast but with Tony's weight on him he couldn't go anywhere. "Come on, calm down." Tony said. "You can't go anywhere."

"Why are you doing this? Just leave me alone! I just need some cash so I can live! You should know it ain't easy for a mutant to live out here!" The boy yelled.

Tony ignored him and a few seconds later the cops showed up and took one look at the boy and nodded to each other. "Pietro Maximoff," one of them said. "Been trying to get this kid for ages, thanks." He said to Tony.

Tony got off him as the cops took over and picked up his gun and badge. When the cops got him to his feet after getting the cuffs on Tony yelled out no, but it was too late. Pietro was off in a flash and ran down the street.

"Shit!" The cop said and they got in their patrol cars. "We had him!" they yelled as they sped off in the direction he went.

Tony looked after them and went down the street as well to look for him. He had to stop running and try and get the cuffs off eventually and chances are he could stop soon, Tony knew running with handcuffs on was not easy.

AN: Wow that took a long time but it is finished. And I just have to say I'm sorry that this took so long but eh school started today and it sucks. Also I'm sorry if I screwed upon Pietro in anyway but ya know… blah. I wanted to pick someone else that really remained a bad guy but my brain wasn't working so the only brotherhood member's I could really think of were Magneto, Toad, Wanda, Avalanche and Pietro. And he's the only one who really worked.

On another note, who else is still in denial about Steve Irwin? I know I am! I mean I remember watching him when I was a real little kid; he was like my role model for a while and still kinda is. Anyway it's depressing and I find it sad as hell so ya know, my condolences. Hope he's still fightin' crocs in Heaven.


	8. Chapter 8

Tony headed down the street, this kid may be fast but Tony could tell where he had went, he crossed a garden in the park nearby. It had just rained and Tony could see the clumps of dirt he had kicked up while running. He followed the tracks, this kid had to stop running soon, he couldn't continue to run forever, could he? Tony would admit he wasn't to savvy with the whole world of mutants as most mutants were at his age were but he knew even they had their limits.

He jogged across the park and came across a fence that separated the park from a back road. Looking on the other side he saw dirt clumps at the bottom, he knew the boy must have jumped the fence so Tony did too. When he landed he looked around the street and saw a back alley and heard chains in it. Taking out his gun Tony slowly walked down the road and poked his head in to get a quick look. Pietro was trying to get the cuffs off his hands anyway he could, there wasn't exactly a blacksmith shop around the corner where they lived. He was banging them against the bricks, trying to move his hands fast enough for them to give away.

Tony held his gun up and began to walk in slowly, Pietro quickly noticed and looked up. "Get the hell away from me." He said abnormally fast standing and getting ready to make a run for it.

"I don't want to hurt you or anything, I just wanna help." Tony said.

Pietro scoffed. "Yeah, right. And next thing I know I'll be in a jail cell. You're a cop I know you are, you don't wanna help me. No one wants to help a mutant, not even you. We're just rats to everyone, just mutants who don't disserve homes or a family to take of them. I'm trying to live! I've never done any real harm, they just wanna throw me in jail because of what I am! And it's there God dammed fault I got here in the first place! If they would just leave me alone I wouldn't have to steal things just to live!" He yelled at Tony letting out all his anger and frustration, when he finished he sighed and hung his head.

"I know I know what you're going through. Let me just try and help you." Tony said walking cautiously to the younger man feeling sympathy for the young mutant.

"How can you help me?" Pietro asked shrugging. "There's nothing you can do for me."

"I can start by getting those cuffs off you." Tony said and the boy shrugged and held his hands out to Tony. He walked to him and put his fingers on the cold metal quickly heating it up, he did that to both of them and told Pietro to pull his hands apart as fast as he could, he did so and the cuffs broke. "There," Tony said taking a few steps back.

"Thanks," Pietro said rubbing his writs where the hot metal had burned him. "I think."

"Now go, I'm letting you off. I won't tell the cops where you are if you don't tell them I helped you." Tony said.

He nodded. "Deal, thanks again. Really, I mean it." Pietro said and sped off through the street until Tony couldn't see him anymore.

Tony shrugged and began to walk home. He had, had enough action for one day, and on his day off. It began getting dark as he walked back to his building, he looked up at the sky and dark clouds started to form overhead. He cursed softly not wanting to get stuck in the rain. Beginning to jog slightly he suddenly felt a light pull on his belt buckle and his jeans and just about all the other metal he carried on him.

"What the hell…" He murmured as he saw people's earrings, necklaces, and all their metals pointing upward. Tony looked up and saw a sight he never thought he would ever see, there was a man, he couldn't make out who he was due to the uniform thing he wore with a long cape. Tony placed his hand on his gun ready to whip it out but before he could get a good grip on it the gun flew out of his hand and to the man who was now hovering about ten feet away.

"Now don't be foolish." He said and bent the barrel of the gun so that there was no way it could be used. The man continued on his way and stopped at a building landing softly on the ground. From around the corner Tony saw a flash fly by kicking up papers, dust and dirt and he immediately knew it was Pietro.

The man bent down all the street lamps and street lights on that block and blocked the way for Pietro to run away. He stopped and tried to go the other way but that way also quickly became blocked by pipes that shot up from the ground. Pietro was panicking as he frantically looked around for a quick exit finding none he turned back to the man and yelled at him. "I don't want to be a member of your damned Brotherhood! Just leave me the hell alone!"

"Now, now, you know I couldn't do that. Son must follow in father's footsteps right?" the man said landing next to him.

This set Tony off, a son didn't have to be anything like his father if he didn't want to. A son never had to follow in his fathers footsteps. All the will in Tony's body pointed to trying to fry this freak but his more sensible side of him told him to call someone. But who? Gibbs? He wasn't a mutant, he had no idea what was going on. Frustrated he contemplated on what he could possibly do.

At NCIS Kate was preparing to go home for the night as was McGee, Gibbs was still sitting there with his work in front of him and Abby was in her lab probably oblivious to the time due to her bombing music. Ducky wouldn't be leaving until Gibbs left probably. McGee typed in his computer to check out the news so he could look at the weather for the next few days. When he arrived at the site he saw a video that intrigued him to press play, on the video it showed a helicopter's view of a raging scene. There was a man making objects float all around him, a younger one trying to get away apparently but the walls of pipes and street lights and lamps was to high and steep to get over, and whenever he did try and climb the man made them move so he would fall down to the street below.

McGee watched for a few more seconds as he saw a flaming ball fly to the man in attempt to stop him but it was in vain because he raised a car and stopped the flames but setting the car on fire and throwing it dangerously close to the person who shot the flame. McGee didn't need to see anymore. "Gibbs!" he yelled and saw his boss come out from his own desk and looked up at McGee slightly annoyed sipping a cup of coffee.

"What is it Agent McGee?"

"Look at this." McGee said and quickly pushed the video back a few seconds. Gibbs watched as he saw the flame hit the man. "You think that could be Tony? I – I mean can't he do that?" McGee asked.

"Send that down to Abby tell her to clean up an image of him." Gibbs said getting a gut feeling that, that was his agent down there.

"Right, Boss." McGee said and rushed to the elevator to talk to Abby.

Kate turned around to look at Gibbs after just seeing the video herself. "You think it's Tony?" She asked Gibbs but he continued to stare at the paused video in front of him and at the blurry image of the man who fired the flaming ball.

Abby was sitting down in her lab, it wasn't long before she was able to pull up the video and clean up the image, she said it was things she could do when she was still in grade school. She blew up the image and cleared it, in seconds a face they all recognized appeared on her screen. She took one last sip of her soft drink and put in back on the table in shock. "Oh my God…" he whispered and quickly sent the image up to the offices.

"Gibbs, it's him, it's Tony." She said over the com as the image appeared on the big screen. Tony was running from the falling car and there fore looking up at it, it was the only image they could get of him.

"We're heading down there, now." Gibbs said and his team nodded, Kate and McGee quickly followed their boss down to the garages.

Elsewhere in upstate New York…

"Professor!" Yelled a woman running down the hallway, she was tall, good looking with long red hair, maybe in her early twenties. She wore a uniform looking clothes with an 'X' pattern all over it. She reached a room and walked in meeting with a man in a wheelchair looking at a screen. "Magneto's causing trouble again." She said.

"I know, Jean, prepare the jet, I have already informed the rest of the team." He said and she nodded running down the hall.

Warren was sitting in his room picking at his wings, he seemed to be starting to molt. He hated it. Pulling our lose feathers and looking at his wings in the mirror in his best attempt to groom them he got a message from Jean in his head. _Guys get ready and come down to the jet, Magneto is causing trouble. _Warren sighed and held his head, never really liked it when he got telepathic messages from Jean or the Professor. He quickly changed and made his way down to the jet, when he got there Kurt was just teleporting in and he waved his hand in front of his face trying to get ride of the smell of brimstone. Kurt shot him a look as they all boarded the jet.

The professor was there as well, apparently he knew something that no one else seemed to know and wouldn't tell anyone. They suspected there was someone there he wanted to talk to or at least that's what Jean got.

Scott sat at the pilots seat and warren the co-pilot, they took off fairly quickly not wanted Magneto to cause to much trouble. In the back they could hear the various team members talking about what he could possibly doing now. Paige just assumed he found some young mutants and he was trying to recruit them on his side, Bobby was convinced he was up to no good and had another plan that would destroy the world, but no one agreed; they all knew he always blew things out of proportion.

Tony ducked another flying piece of metal that was coming to him, he already burned a few out of the air before they got to him. He cursed, this was nothing like what he was doing in this apartment earlier that day, that was just messing around. This was serious. He lit up another flaming ball behind his back narrowly missing his shirt and having it caught on fire, whipping it out he threw the flame but a trash can was lifted up and blocked it, unfortunately Tony could not get out of the way of this. He tried to jump up the trash can hit his hard in the back making him fall hard on his chest and face, his hands not going out fast enough to try and catch himself.

He groaned as he got up and put his hand to his nose, he felt blood slowly drip form it. When he tried to get up he winced as he moved his chest, might have a cracked rib. He thought but ignored the pain and fully stood up. How was he going to do this on his own?

AN: I'm sorry for the lateness but I have shows and scripts up to my neck and other fics that need updates and not to mention school. Urg hectic life. But I think things are finally cooling down we did the last performance of one show last week and all my random shows are done (unless I get a call to do an improv or fill in which is possible but probably not any time soon). But anyway I thank all my reviewers and to answer a question, no I am not Australian; I live in the good 'ol U.S.A. Let's see what else is there to say, oh with the members of the X-Men I literally wrote about twenty names down cut them up and put them in a basket and random chose them. So sorry if the ones I picked weren't on the team at the same time, it was luck of the draw. I think I'm done now… okay I think I am.


	9. Chapter 9

Tony groaned and pushed himself off the ground. This royally sucked, not only was he getting he ass kicked but he was getting his ass kicked with a live news helicopter above his head. The day really could not get any worse. As Tony forced himself up with support from a nearby window from a store he out the window to his back and panted. The mutant that caused all this just stood there staring at him, he looked as though he was laughing, but Tony couldn't be sure with the helmet on his head.

He wanted to make another fireball and hurl it at him but he knew it was useless. The mutant would just black it or even throw something at him before he could even release the flame.

"Have you given up yet?" He asked as Tony struggled to stand on his feet without leaning. It was getting harder, he may have even sprained his ankle, he wasn't quite sure. "It's no use really, you've just accepted your powers, and I have been accepting mine for decades. You have no hope in defeating me."

"Maybe not, but I can sure as hell try." Tony said and threw a flame he was holding behind his back.

The man easily blocked it with a trash can and sighed at Tony. "You're attempts will do nothing, only weaken yourself. But, you are strong, if you embraced this years ago like a good boy, maybe you'd be in a different position now. Like say for instance, on my side of the road laughing at some other poor soul, instead of being the one getting laughed at."

"No chance I would ever be on your side." Tony growled at him.

"Yes, I can see you're all for fighting the good fight. But I must tell you, it is a losing fight. Mutants and humans will never be equal, can't you see that? We will _always_ be superior."

"You're insane." Tony said with a forced laugh.

"No, I just know what should be right, now if you don't mind, I still have the matter of getting my son back to where he belongs."

Tony glared at him and it seemed he knew what Tony was planning because the second he took a step forward a lamp came flying at him and hit him in the rips making his already hurt one let out a loud crack. Tony let out a cry of pain as he felt the rib break and he landed against the wall.

I could really use some backup right about now, he thought as he lay on the ground trying to get up on his feet. He grunted and sat up on all fours trying to get up. He took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly as he stood ignoring the pain and wincing slightly.

"You're pathetic, you keep trying and trying but to no avail." He said.

Tony stood not making a move, out of the corner of his eye he saw something go through the sky. He didn't look directly at it as not to avert the mans attention to Tony's possible backup. But with his peripheral vision he saw a large wing span and in his head smiled. Looks like he's has backup after all. He only had to hold this guy off for a few more seconds, just a few more seconds and he would be okay.

"Now, I believe it is time to end this pointless feud, wouldn't you agree?" He asked and he rose up the car, this time he didn't throw it. He moved it back so he was cornering Tony and with his injures Tony wasn't nearly as fast as he would have liked to be. Tony tried to get out but the car was moving to quickly, trying to duck under the bottom but the space was to small and he was sure that if he tried the car would land right on top of him.

He cursed under his breath and thought about his options, he couldn't crawl away; he couldn't use his powers because that's just stupid to throw fire at a car. Nothing he was stuck, trapped, there was no way he could get out of his. And even if he tried scaling the wall behind him he was sure that the man's powers were faster then him. Suddenly the car dropped, and it was a good thing to, the car was only a couple feet away from him now. Tony looked up and saw a woman with red hair levitating nearby, she was floating some rubble in the air and it looked like she was throwing it at him. Tony looked around and saw more people showing themselves, one was a boy who was completely covered in ice; another was a woman with rock skin, a man with a strange visor over his eyes and several more.

Tony leaned on the car to catch his breath as the group of mutants began attacking the man. Through all the commotion he could hardly hear what anyone was saying but he learned that thre man's name was Magneto. He knew this guy, he should have figured it out sooner. He scowled at him and using the car and the wall behind him as support he made his way around the car. He was going to keep on fighting if it killed him.

Gibbs parked the car just outside the scene where his agent was trapped. He got out as quickly as he could and walked over to the many cops surrounding the rubble. McGee and Kate got out after him and looked around at the sight in shock.

"How do we get it?" McGee asked looking at the massive wall of metal.

"I have no idea…" Kate replied staring up at it.

"Whoa, whoa, Sir-" A police officer said as Gibbs, Kate and McGee walked up but was quickly cut off by Gibbs showing his badge. "NCIS? What are you doing in here?"

"One of the men trapped in there is my agent. I can to get him out." He replied quickly glaring at the cop.

"I'm sorry Agent…"

"Gibbs."

"Agent Gibbs, I'm sorry, no one can get in or out. It's too steep and anyone who does get in he immediately pushes them back down. This guy knows what he's doing." The cop said.

Gibbs didn't respond and pushed the cop aside. He had to get in, the wall was far to steep and high to climb, he couldn't climb anything, everything was blocked off. He stared at it for several more seconds he could hear everything that was going on inside but he couldn't see any of it. He saw different things flying over the wall, some coming dangerously close to hitting people on the other side but many were stopped, they just floated in mid air and were lowered gently. Some of the things however were elements, he saw ice flying up and shattering when hitting a building, he saw people flying in the air, rubble, debris.

"Excuse me, Agent Gibbs?"

Gibbs turned around frustrated at whoever disrupted his thought process on getting in. He was faced with a man in a wheelchair coming up to him looking quite calm. "Yes?" Gibbs answered folding his arms.

"I understand Tony is your agent."

"That's right."

"You don't have to worry about him."

"Says you," Gibbs said. "My agents in there with a psycho path, "I don't know what his current condition is or what's happening to him."

"Tony is fine, he's fighting along with my team as we speak." The man said.

"Your team? Who the hell are you?"

"I am Professor Charles Xavier, I'm like you, we have teams that fight evil. Mine just happens to be mutants." He said with a small smile on his face. He saw the still uneasy look on Gibbs's face. "Don't worry about Tony, he's fine. A little battered perhaps," Gibbs let out a small laugh, yeah that was Tony. "But he's fine. He's lucky to have friends like you and the rest of your team. I don't have to use telepathy to realize you share a close bond with him."

"We've worked together for years; of course I would have a bond with him."

"It's more then that."

Gibbs gave a small nod and a faint smile. "Okay fine, you got me. He's like a son, but don't tell him I said that." He added quickly.

"I won't." Xavier said with a smile on his face. He looked up to the wall and saw Magneto rising up, he must have been getting overpowered. "It seems this battle is won." He said and Gibbs looked up to see Magneto flying away.

The rubble wall began to move and it easily parted by Jean, Gibbs saw many people come out. One boy he watched go from completely covered in ice to not covered in ice in seconds and same went for a woman covered in rock. He saw another man in a visor rubbing the back of his neck, a man, or at least he thought it was a man, walking out. But he looked strange, covered in blue a tail, a woman with fairly reveling clothes on walked right through the rubble from one of the shadows. Another shorter man stepped out and Gibbs saw three claws in each fist quickly retract and a serious looking head wound close up in seconds. Finally he saw Tony, he had one arm around a man with large white wings. He was limping and the man was supporting him and it looked like they were talking.

Gibbs ran over to his agent along with Kate and McGee who quickly noticed him as well. On the way there they passed a man looking in his late teens walking over to the Professor looking a little shaken with his arms hugging his chest. "Tony! Tony, you okay?" Gibbs said when he reached him.

"Hey, Boss, what'cha doing here?" Tony said forcing a smile although he was in obvious pain.

"What were you thinking, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked and looked at his injured agent.

"I was thinking that you shouldn't give me anymore days off, cause I get in more trouble out here then I do at work."

Gibbs smiled at Tony's attitude and then turned to the man. "Thanks for helping him Mister…" Gibbs asked him.

"Warren Worthington, but call me Warren. Mr. Worthington is my father." He said smiling. "Ya got a good guy here," He said motioning to Tony. "Don't think I could have lasted that long with all the injuries he has. He helped us out a lot; magneto may have gotten away if Tony wasn't there to stop him until we got here."

"And I did a hell of a job stopping him. I think I may have hit him with one fireball out of the ten dozen I threw." Tony said.

"Well you still helped."

"If it weren't for you I never would have helped. Heck, I probably never would have even gotten out of my apartment." The two men gave a small laugh at that and Gibbs remained clueless. "I'll fill ya in later, Boss." Tony promised.

"See that you do, now come on. We better get you to a hospital."

"Aw come on Gibbs." Tony complained. "I don't need a hospital I'm fine, oh, ow." He said as Gibbs let go of him and had Tony walk for a couple feet.

"When you say 'ow' that means you're not fine and that you need a hospital." Gibbs said and took his agent over to the ambulance that was parked not to far away. They were taking in some of the civilians that had got caught in it. "Okay we'll get you a bandage for that head of yours and then take you there in my car."

"You're driving, Boss?"

"Yes."

"I think I felt safer with Magneto."

Gibbs gave Tony a light slap on the head and Tony scrunched up his face. "Ow."

AN: Yay! Chapter is done! I was having trouble with my other story so I decided to do this instead. I'm sorry there wasn't much of a fight scene but I wanted that little talk with Xavier and Gibbs. Um, Warren and his healing powers, for those of you who are wondering at all, I decided that this is before he got them. And I'm also sorry for the lack of Pietro in this chap but I swear he'll be in the next one. Uh… And I am sad to say that there will only be one more chapter. But it will have some good stuff, Tate lovers will like it. Hehehe. But I'm not saying anymore. Thanks or the reviews and I'll see ya'll in a week or so, or since this is a three day weekend maybe sooner.


	10. Chapter 10

Tony was lying in the passenger's seat of the NCIS vehicle as Gibbs sped down the rode going to the hospital. The seat was down and his breathing was a little shallow. Kate and McGee were in the back taking care of some of the more minor injuries.

"Boss, I really don't need a hospital." Tony sighed as Kate patted his head with a damp cloth cleaning out a wound. He winced as she pressed a little hard and she quietly apologized.

"DiNozzo, can you sit up?" Gibbs asked not even looking at his agent.

"Well… how far up is up? Oh ow." Tony asked sitting up a few inches.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "When you can fully sit up without pain I'll tell you, you don't have to go to the hospital. Until then shut up and sit still."

"Got it, Boss." Tony said and closed his eyes.

They arrived at the hospital a few minutes later and Gibbs got out from the drivers side and went around to help Tony get up. Tony grunted in pain as he was lifted up by Gibbs and McGee.

They went up to the front of the hospital, they saw some of the others that were there being wheeled away in stretchers or chairs as they were being taken care of. A man walked over and bought a stretcher up to Tony, Gibbs, McGee and a few orderlies helped him up with a few grunts from Tony from his ribs.

They took him away to a room and finally The NCIS agents were told to stay behind and wait until they were done looking him over.

Almost an hour later Abby and Ducky had joined them in the waiting room waiting to hear about Tony's current condition. Abby was worried about him and sat restless in her seat, she bought along one of her many stuffed animals from her lab to cheer him up and she was hugging it close to her chest. Kate was next to her sitting perfectly still and staring at the wall in deep thought, every now and then she would bit her nail or twirl a piece of her hair absent mindedly but other then that perfectly still. Same went for Gibbs, he didn't move he did say a word. He was trying to find out all possible ways on how this could have been his fault, if he didn't force Tony to stay home, or if he had been there for him more. Almost every possible way he could be blamed he thought of. McGee was fidgeting in his seat twirling his fingers tapping his foot, anything to try and pass the time. Ducky was sitting still as well, waiting patiently for the doctor to come over; he always did have a lot of patience.

Finally after what seemed like forever to the group Tony's doctor came over. He didn't look sad, that must have been a good side. Gibbs got up immediately and met the doctor half way he was followed quickly by the rest. "Agent DiNozzo's going to be fine, a few cracked ribs, nothing entirely serious, but for that he will have to stay here for a little while they set. He has some deep wounds but they didn't get infected and should heal without worry." He said.

"Can we see him?" Gibbs asked right away.

"I'm sorry Agent Gibbs, only family as of right now." The doctor said with an apologetic look on.

"We _are_ his family." Gibbs said.

The Doctor nodded. "Not all of you can go in at once, he's still a little out of it from the anesthetics and will probably be sleeping it off for the next few hours."

"That's okay, I want to see him." Gibbs said.

"Very well, you know his room number."

Gibbs nodded and then turned to the rest of his team. "Go home, get some rest. I'll call you when he wakes up." He said to them

"Give him this?" Abby said and held out the stuffed animal.

Gibbs smiled and nodded.

"And this." She said and hugged Gibbs.

"I will Abbs." He kissed her on the head and she smiled.

"You promise you'll call?" Kate said with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Have I ever not kept my word, Agent Todd?" He asked her raising an eyebrow and she shook her head without saying anything further.

"Tell him we wish him well." McGee said and the team reluctantly started heading out of the hospital.

"I believe I will talk with the doctor for a moment before my departure. And be sure to tell young Anthony when he wakes that I wish him a speedy recovery." Ducky said and walked over to the doctor, no doubt to find out every little detail about Tony's condition.

Gibbs walked over to Tony's room and slowly opened the door, there was a nurse in there checking his IV's and tucking in the sheets. Probably just stalling time so she could stay in the room longer with him. When she heard him walk in she looked up surprised and blushed slightly. "He's sleeping." She whispered. "I'll get out of your hair." Gibbs thanked her for her help and she nodded as she left the room.

Gibbs walked over to his sleeping agent; Tony looked so young in his sleep. So youthful, not the cocky overactive person he was but he was vulnerable lying there in the hospital bed with the white sheets and the beeping of the various machines. Gibbs placed the stuffed animal on the bed and sat down in a chair he pulled up next to the bed. He patted Tony's arm and sat down and rested his head on his hands and closed his eyes. Before he knew it he was fast asleep in the room.

The room was blurry when he opened his eyes, everything was out of focus. He blinked several times to try and clear his vision but he quickly learned that his one eye was swollen although he couldn't feel the pain it was hard to open fully. He reached up to touch the bandages on his face and he saw an IV in his arm and bandages on his torso. That's right, I'm in the hospital. He thought to himself.

He looked around and noticed the stuffed animal at his side and laughed to himself a little, must be from Abby. He then turned his gaze to the person sleeping in a chair next to the bed. He grinned. "Hey, Boss." He said and was surprised at the weakness of his voice. "Wake up, sleepy." He said after he swallowed a few times.

Gibbs stired and opened his eyes to come face to face with his agent. "DiNozzo, you're up."

"So are you."

"Yeah waiting for your sorry ass to wake up is a long process." Gibbs said sitting up in the chair more. "So, how are you feeling Tony?"

"Great, Boss, I can go back to work tomorrow."

"Tony." Gibbs said and glared at the younger agent.

"Okay, fine you win. I feel and probably look like crap right now. My ribs hurt, my legs, or maybe leg really hurts, my face hurts, my arms hurt… ya know, hell with it everything hurts." Tony said wincing.

Gibbs took all of that in, it was to be expected. "On the plus side DiNozzo, the nurse that was in here a few hours ago was checking you out." He said.

"Well that's just unavoidable ain't it, Boss?" Tony asked shrugging and then suppressing a look of pain across his face, "Ya know my pay should get docked for this." He smiled along with Gibbs but then his smile faded. "B – Boss, do the, do the doctors know?" Gibbs gave him a look of confusion. "I mean do they know, what, what I am?"

Gibbs looked down and nodded. "They do Tony, but they don't care, these are good people. They really don't."

"But how do you know? I mean can you read their minds?" He asked.

"Well I can't but I'm sure they don't care they treated you just like a regular patient."

"They did that because they have to." Tony said. "If they didn't have to –"

"They would have anyway." Gibbs interrupted him. "Tony, sure people will be prejudice," he leaned forward and looked at Tony. "But since when do you care? As long as I have known you, you could care less what people think of you. And besides from seeing the way the nurses were looking at you hen you came in, they really don't care." He smirked.

Tony nodded a little and smiled. "You're right, Boss. Thanks. Really I mean it, I'm glad everything worked out." Gibbs smiled and nodded. "So, " Tony said wanting to change the subject. "How is everyone?"

"Fine, as you can probably tell Abby told me to give you that… she also told me to give you a hug but I think it'll mean more coming from her directly."

"Aw, Boss." Tony said with a sly grin on. "Don't you love me?"

Gibbs gave him a playful glare. "Kate, McGee and Ducky wish you the best and a quick recovery by the way."

"Ohhh, Kate. How's she doing? She worried about poor 'ol Tony?" he asked with a stupid grin on his face.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of which I have to call them, I'll be right back. And I'll get the doctor and tell him you're up while I'm out." Gibbs said taking out his cell phone and exiting the room for a few minutes.

Tony watched him leave and smiled. He got out of that one unharmed, well not unharmed but at least not dead. His friends stayed by his side and that was something he really didn't expect to happen when this first happened. They not only stayed with him but he also made some new friends, maybe when he got out of this place all of his NCIS family and all his new mutant friends. Not all he had to do was survive in this hell hole hospital until his ribs healed fully. The doctor said it's not as bad as it must feel but he still had to stay there a few days. Not fully broken just cracked slightly, and he was thankful for that on so many levels.

Gibbs walked back in followed by the doctor; Tony moaned and protested as the doctor began examining him. Gibbs told him that the rest of the team would be here to see him momentarily. The doctor finally finished looking him over and he told them a few things, Gibbs seemed to be listening but Tony was zoned out not caring in the slightest about what he was saying, hell if he even understood half of it.

About twenty minutes later McGee was the first to show up, then Abby, Kate and Ducky. They stayed the entire day, even the Director stopped by to check on him and to warn him not to come into work until the doctor said it was alright, and then Gibbs said it to him again later that day. I don't think anyone quite understood that he may have a cracked rib, broken nose, and sprained ankle but he didn't go deaf.

AN: Okay not really how I wanted to end but it's an end. I wanted a bit more Tate was it's there… kinda, ya just gotta kinda look for it but it's there. I thank everyone who reviewed everyone who read this story had a great run! And I may write more NCIS stories based off this or ones not but I'm fairly sure this is not the end for me Tony was to much fun to write, and if I do write another one I swear there will be more Tate. But don't get your hopes up for another one too soon, I have a few more stories about other things planned and then maybe another one. But I am rambling, I'll just miss this story, okay I'll stop now, thanks again for your support I never would have gone this far without you guys!


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